The present invention generally relates to catheter monitoring. In particular, the present invention relates to systems and methods for a hot-swappable catheter input module.
The normal pumping of the heart results from the ordered contraction of the muscles of the heart, the myocardium. When the myocardium is electrically stimulated, it contracts. The sinoatrial node (SA node) generates an electrical impulse that is propagated to the myocardium. Typically, the SA node spontaneously generates the electrical impulse. Certain problems may occur when the electrical impulse is generated and/or propagates incorrectly.
An electrophysiology (EP) study may include one or more tests performed to acquire data about the electrical signals in the heart. An EP study is performed by placing one or more catheters into a patient's heart. The catheters monitor the electrical signals in the heart. A catheter may include one or more leads for relaying the monitored signals to a catheter monitoring system such as an EP laboratory system. In some situations, a catheter may be used to stimulate the heart by introducing electrical impulses in an EP study.
For example, to perform an EP study, three intracardiac (IC) catheters may be placed into a patient's heart to monitor the electrical signals as they travel through the heart and cross the three catheters. The catheters may be connected to input ports on a catheter input module (CIM) that is part of the monitoring system. Each catheter may have one or more data channels. A data channel includes a signal electrode and a reference electrode. The reference electrode may come from a lead in the catheter or from an auxiliary or external reference, for example.
Current systems utilize an amplifier to receive and amplify input from IC catheters. The number of inputs available for the IC catheters may be fixed based on the amplifier model purchased. Thus, when additional catheter inputs are desired, a user must replace the entire amplifier with a different model, incurring additional cost and system downtime. In other current systems, the amplifier may utilize one or more CIMs. In such systems, when additional catheter inputs are desired, the catheter monitoring system must be powered down and opened up for the new CIM hardware to be installed.
As discussed above, current systems do not support the addition of additional catheter inputs to the hardware during a study. However, the number of catheter inputs needed during a study can change. For example, during a study a healthcare practitioner may determine an additional catheter is desired to be included in the study. As another example, at the beginning of a study, only a subset of the leads from a catheter may be used. During the study, the healthcare provider may decide to utilize additional leads. If additional catheter inputs are not available when desired during the study, the study will have to be closed before the amplifier can be replaced or powered down so additional CIMs can be added.
In addition, when adding a new CIM, there is a possibility that the CIM will be damaged if the power is left on by mistake. That is, a user may accidentally attempt to add a CIM while the catheter monitoring system is still powered on. This may result in permanent damage to the CIM and/or the catheter monitoring system.
Thus, there is a need for a hot-swappable catheter input module.